


Clamor (Prompt #8)

by Post-Calamity Jane (GlassHeadcanon)



Series: TDA: The "off-Global Cooldown Weave" Edition (FFXIV Write 2020) [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Cities, Gen, Travel, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020, Ul'dah (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26368018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassHeadcanon/pseuds/Post-Calamity%20Jane
Summary: X’rhun navigates Ul’dah prior to meeting Sabaki for the first time.-clam•or (ˈklæm ər)n.1. a loud uproar, as from a crowd of people.2. a vehement expression of desire or dissatisfaction: the clamor against higher taxation.3. any loud and continued noise: the clamor of traffic.v.i.4. to make a clamor; raise an outcry.v.t.5. to drive, force, influence, etc., by clamoring: The press clamored him out of office.6. to utter noisily: They clamored their demands.
Series: TDA: The "off-Global Cooldown Weave" Edition (FFXIV Write 2020) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913404
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Clamor (Prompt #8)

He had a love/hate relationship with big cities. On the one hand, there was a distinct energy and personality to each major state that was unmistakable. In the case of here in Ul'dah, it was busier, more cosmopolitan, and less pastoral in mood than Gridania. Similar to that forest town, one could linger to people-watch here in a relatively-relaxed way. Ul'dah was a bustling, popular destination, like Limsa Lominsa, while - unlike that port city - here, one rarely had to guard one's back or purse quite as diligently. 

What made Ul'dah unique was the neverending flow of productivity that filled each street: a continuous movement of people and goods that was easy for a mere traveler like he to get swept up in if you didn't think or care much about where you were going. It was as though everyone and everything, be it merchant, entertainer, laborer, guild worker, adventurer, guard - even down to the very cargo hauled and wares sold - that crossed your path were somehow all part of one big, well-choreographed theatrical in which every player (mayhap even the Sultana herself), by virtue of simply being there, understood and performed their part impeccably without fail, as though they were born to the role. Aye, it was far too easy, unless you could see past the veneer of it all and made a conscious choice, as he did, to stay "off-stage" - you might say - a passive observer, separate and aloof from the city's myriad of deals and intrigues. 

For Ul'dah was also a place of deep and irreconcilable contradiction to him: of ever-opposing forces of disparity that pushed and pulled in a continual, paradoxical conflict seething beneath the surface of a well-tended and aesthetically-pleasing facade of tidy enterprise. Mayhap, he had to admit that something was comforting, yet at the same time, mildly disconcerting about being surrounded by the aged beauty of the architecture, or the artistry of the expensive lamps and gilded, woven tapestries that hung above. It was a little like having the shadows of the accomplishments of one's distinguished ancestors peering imperiously over one's shoulder as a reminder of all of the amazing things their wealth had wrought, as though saying by their mere presence, "Well? What have you done with your life that will stand the test of time, as we have?" 

This place was built from both old and new money. It fairly reeked of its excesses and its want. And so he could not ignore the noisy, discordant notes that struck his spirit when thinking of the many refugee camps that surrounded the mighty city gates, or whenever he had to walk through the squalor of the homeless begging in Pearl Lane to get to the marketplaces and guilds. It was times like those when X'rhun Tia felt very keenly that the rich, towering grandeur of Ul'dah blocked out the sky far too much for his liking. And so he had resolved that as usual, he would stay only as long as necessary to accomplish his tasks, and then depart as quickly as possible. 

As he walked from the Aetheryte and down the main street that rounded the periphery of the city, the crowds grew more dense than usual, congregating the most around the plaza just before Ruby Road. Today, the air was filled with loud cheering and lively music. But he sighed in irritation to discover that the path to his destination was now entirely blocked on all sides by these many spectators to a performance of some kind and that to try and get around it would cost him far more time than he had hoped to spend here. He muttered to himself, then set about slowly inching his way as directly as he could through the packed, roaring crowd, giving polite - if begrudging - apologies as he pushed himself through.

It was the sound of a woman's laughter that made him stop mid-stride to turn and peer towards the performance. He discovered then that he had somehow stumbled his way to the front of the crowd and that the laughing woman was a grinning Miqo'te dancer clad in red and gold, with a shock of almost violet hair. She had just leaped upwards to throw a spinning, disc-like blade into the air. The lass seemed so utterly delighted to have caught it again, that if he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that her elation was due to surprise at having done so. 

There was something unusual about the dancer's movements that piqued his curiosity. His ears twitched. His senses narrowed. In his mind, the raucous noise seemed to quiet and the movements of the crowd blurred until to him, they moved in slow motion. It was as though he had entered the eye of a storm, where only the dancing Miqo'te girl was most clearly seen. Watching her had suddenly given him that strange feeling of absolute certainty - an instinct honed by years of experience - that something significant was about to happen. He would just have to wait and find out what.


End file.
